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The Battle of Lake Erie, 
September 10, I813 

By ROBERT W. NEESER 




Reprinted from the United States Naval 

Institute Proceedings, Vol. 39 

No. 3, Whole No. U7 

September, 1913 




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Copyright, 1913, by E. J. King, Secretary and Treasurer, U. B. Naval Institute. 






[COPYRIGHTED.] 

U. S. NAVAL INSTITUTE, ANNAPOLIS, MD. 



THE BATTLE OF LAKE ERIE, SEPTEMBER lo, 1813. 

By Robert W. Neeser. 



" We have met the enemy, and they are ours." In these mem- 
orable words Perry, on September 10, 1813, announced to Gen- 
eral Harrison his victory over the British squadron off Put-in 
Bay. Never was good news more welcome. For the fortunes 
of the Americans on the northern frontier were ebbing low, and 
upon the outcome of that meeting between the hostile squadrons 
upon Lake Erie depended success in that region once and for all. 

Oliver Hazard Perry's entrance upon the duty for which he 
had applied, and to which he finally was ordered by the authori- 
ties in Washington, was most auspicious. He joined Commodore 
Chauncey on the lakes at just the right moment, and from that 
minute whatever he touched seemed to take the direction he 
wanted. The sailors called it his luck, and superstition never sur- 
vived more obstinately than their faith in that luck. But this 
extraordinary advantage was not gained by Perry without labor, 
energy, courage, and wearing anxieties and disappointments. 
Of these he had his full share, but no more ; and his opponents 
were in that respect no better off than he. 

The situation on Lake Erie at the close of the campaign of 1812 
was far from favorable to the American cause. The British 
squadron under Captain Finnis enjoyed undisputed control of the 
Lake and its shores. Perry, on the other hand, was confronted 
with the problem of an inferior and divided force. For when he 
reached Presqu'isle, he found that the vessels at his disposal 
there consisted of but two brigs, a schooner, and three gunboats, 
all still on the stocks, which the contractors could promise for 
service not earlier than June, while the available craft afloat, 
including the prize brig Caledonia, were at Black Rock in the 
Niagara River, unable to move on account of the British fort 
opposite Buffalo and Finnis' squadron on the Lake. 



922 The Battle of Lake Erie, 

The task of the British commander was, therefore, to main- 
tain these original advantages, by preventing the Black Rock 
division from gaining the Lake, and maintaining his own squadron 
in such a position near Presqu'isle (Erie), that the vessels under 
construction there would be prevented from crossing the bar 
obstructing that harbor. 

Before the opening of the next campaign on the lake frontier, 
in 1813, the American authorities fortunately awoke to the fact 
that any further movement for the recapture of Detroit and the 
invasion of Canada would have to depend upon the naval control 
of Lake Erie, and that that in turn depended in a large measure 
upon their own superiority on Lake Ontario. A plan was there- 
fore urged by Commodore Chauncey which, being duly acted upon 
by the combined naval and military forces, resulted in the capture 
of the important British positions at York and Fort George, and 
in the evacuation by the enemy of their controlling defences 
opposite Buffalo. The first two steps in Chauncey's program 
had now been successfully taken. The British had been driven 
from the Niagara River, and the vessels at Black Rock at last 
were free to move. Preparations had already been made before- 
hand in anticipation of a victory, and the minute the enemy, in 
their retreat, abandoned Fort Erie, Perry was on hand to hasten 
the departure. With great physical labor, the vessels were 
tracked by oxen up against the current of the Niagara, here set- 
ting heavily toward the falls. On May 27 the British evacuated 
the opposite shore; on June 12 the vessels were above the rapids, 
but even then this could not have been accomplished had not the 
sailors had the assistance of several hundred soldiers furnished by 
Dearborn. These circumstances well show how hopeless the task 
would have been had the enemy remained in possession of Fort 
Erie. 

Loaded with stores the little squadron, consisting of the Cale- 
donia, Somers, Tigress, Ohio and Trippe, sailed from Buffalo on 
June 13, but head winds baffled them, and it was only by the 
merest chance that they ever arrived safely at Presqu'isle five days 
later ; for the new British commander. Captain Robert H. Barclay, 
with commendable promptness, had taken the Lake with a superior 
force shortly after his arrival at Amherstburg, and was cruising 
between Black Rock and Presqu'isle to intercept the expected re- 
enforcement ; but Perry, coasting the beach, slipped by the 

TRANSFER.IZD .,_,,. 

copvRijHT omce 

NOV 1 P iSil 



The Battle of Lake Erie. 923 

enemy's vessels unseen in a fog, and on June 18 reached a safe 
anchorage. 

The first and most serious obstacle that confronted the Ameri- 
can commander now had been successfully overcome ; his con- 
centrated force lay within the bar at Presqu'isle. There remained 
still the task of pressing the completion and equipment of the 
two brigs begun by Chauncey the previous winter. These were 
sister ships, the Lazurence and the Niagara, of five hundred tons 
burthen, and carrying eighteen 32-pounder carronades and two 
long i2-pounder guns. By the 23d both had been rigged, and' 
armed, and would have been ready for service had there been 
men enough to man them. But of seamen there were no more to 
be had. Chauncey himself was still very short of men, and at 
one time even hinted the necessity of laying up his own fleet on 
Lake Ontario to man that on the upper lake. But Perry was not 
to be discouraged. Seeing the difficulty of increasing his comple- 
ments, he went so far as to offer to enter upon active operations, 
with half the number of men which he and Chauncey had agteed 
upon as essential to success. The commodore naturally expressed 
surprise at this change in his subordinate's " sentiments," but 
added that " if Captain Perry can beat the enemy with .... that 
number, no one will feel more happy than myself." Of the 
Larmrence's nominal complement of one hundred and eighty, 
Perry actually had but one hundred and forty-two, of whom 
thirty were on the sick list ; while in the squadron, instead of the 
required seven hundred and forty men, there were but four 
hundred and ninety on board. Of this number, nearly one hun- 
dred were received from the army only nine days before the 
battle. 

Notwithstanding Perry's willingness to make the best of his 
difficulties, this state of affairs came near causing his withdrawal 
from the squadron ; " a loss which, had it occurred, might have 
reversed the issues, for in few general actions has the person- 
ality of the commander counted for so much, after the battle 
joined." One of Chauncey's letters offended his young subordi- 
nate, who was only twenty-eight years of age, and, though 
amiable, naturally quick of temper. Under the first impulse of 
resentment, the latter applied to be removed from the station 
because of the receipt of this letter, " in every line of which is an 
insult." But, fortunately, it was impossible at that moment to 



924 The Battle of Lake Erie. 

grant this request, and Perry eventually reaped the harvest 
which he had so well sown. 

While the preparations were nearing- completion at Presqu'isle, 
General Procter, commanding the British land forces, with the 
cooperation of a sufficient squadron, was planning expeditions 
from Maiden against every place on the lake frontier except 
the very one to which military necessity and his orders bade him 
go. At the time of Perry's arrival at Erie, March 27, that port 
was utterly defenceless, and without arms or ammunition of any 
kind, although the keels of the brigs had already been laid and 
the gunboats would soon be nearing completion. A visit to 
Pittsburgh secured four small guns, some muskets, and some 
five hundred militia, and with this slender protection Perry 
pushed on the arduous work of building and equipping his 
squadron in what was virtually a wilderness — a wilderness 
abounding in ship-timber, but one to which mechanics and ship- 
wrights, and most of the materials and stores they needed, as 
well as the seamen to man the ships, had to be brought from 
the Atlantic seaboard tmder difficulties of transportation now 
hardly mentally pictured, Procter, however, bided his time, and, 
eager for action somewhere, directed his first efforts against 
Fort Meigs. For a week he besieged that post, May i to IMay 9. 
but without success. Then he bethought himself more seriously 
of the situation at Erie, and demanded reenforcements to attack 
the place. The advisability of this move was not denied, but the 
additional force requested was not forthcoming. The project 
against Erie was therefore abandoned, and the offensive trans- 
ferred to Sandusky. Barclay was, however, directed to get under 
way with his fleet and cruise off Erie in order to retain the 
American vessels to port until the necessary assistance could be 
obtained. On the passage the British ships stopped at Long 
Point, on the Canadian shore directly opposite Erie, in the hope of 
finding additional seamen for their crews, and to embark a hun- 
dred soldiers to cooperate in the expedition. But the desired 
troops were refused, and Barclay found himself obliged to appear 
off Erie, on July 20, with his fleet most inadequately equipped, 
undermanned, and in want of everything. The loss of York in 
the spring, when all the ordnance, ammunition, and other stores 
intended for the service on Lake Erie were either destroyed or 
captured by the Americans, had been irreparable. Barclay's only 



The Battle of Lake Erie. 925 

hope lay in completing a vessel called the Detroit, then on the 
stocks at Amherstburg, for which he had, with great difficulty, 
secured a collection of guns of various calibers from the ramparts 
of the fort. Thus equipped, she had to be manned ; but no 
seamen were hear at hand. As a last resort Barclay, at the last 
moment, was forced to make up a crew from a regiment of the 
garrison and from some available Canadians. Then, with the 
Detroit ready to sail, her commander had no alternative but 
to go out and fight. " So perfectly destitute of provisions was 
the port," wrote Barclay, " that there was not a day's flour in 
store, and the crews of the squadron under my command were 
■on half allowance of many things ; and when that was done, there 
was no more." 

So great, in fact, were Barclay's own discouragements, that he 
allowed his great opportunity to escape him. For at the time of 
his appearance before Erie, on July 20, that port was so inade- 
quately defended that the boats of his squadron might have made 
short work of the militia detailed for the protection of the vessels 
M^ithin the bar. But he merely made his presence known, cruised 
before the harbor, and then, on the 30th, disappeared, and was 
not seen again until the 4th of August. Once before fortune had 
smiled upon Oliver Hazard Perry, and now, as upon that occasion, 
that young officer was not found wanting. The harbor of Erie 
in which his fleet was assembled was an excellent one except for 
a bar at the entrance on which there was never more than seven 
feet of water. This natural barrier hitherto had prevented the 
•enemy from getting in ; since the completion of the brigs it as 
efifectually prevented the American vessels from getting out. 
Perry's preparations for the passage had been completed days 
before. The minute the British fleet disappeared from view 
below the horizon everything was hurried forward. Five of the 
smaller vessels were ordered across the bar to positions covering 
the channel, and three long 12-pounders were hastily mounted 
on the beach abreast the shoal. The brigs were lightened of their 
guns, and their hulls so lifted upon floats, that these, when sunk, 
made fast, and pumped out, raised the vessels sufliciently to ad- 
mit their being floated over the shallow channel. The weather, 
fortunately, was propitious, and the Lawrence was successfully 
carried outside, although she once grounded on the shoalest 
spot and had to be refloated. At 8 o'clock on the morning of 



926 The Battle of Lake Erie. 

the 4th, she was fairly afloat, with her guns on board and just 
mounted, when the British reappeared. The Niagara immediately 
followed her sister ship into deep water, and then for the first 
time Barclay could not make an attack with any hope of success. 

With Perry's entire force on the Lake, Barclay's only alternative 
was to seek the shelter of his batteries and await the completion of 
his most powerful ship, the Detroit. The Americans at once 
sailed in chase, but, failing in their attempt to overtake the enemy, 
returned to Erie for a fresh supply of provisions and stores for 
the army at Sandusky. While thus engaged, there came the 
welcome intelligence that Captain Jesse D. Elliott, an officer of 
reputation, with one hundred and two officers and men, was on 
his way to join the squadron. On the loth they arrived, and two 
days later all was ready. The squadron got under way once more, 
and started out on what proved to be its final cruise, for the ves- 
sels did not return to Erie again until the close of the campaign 
when not a single enemy remained to oppose them upon the Lake. 
On August 25, Perry was off Maiden, and again on the ist of 
September, wTien he reconnoitred the British squadron near the 
harbor's mouth. But Barclay refused to be tempted. He w^as 
having his ow^n troubles securing men for his ships, and was 
determined upon postponing action until the necessary reenforce- 
ments reached him, or until the shortage of provisions, already 
staring him in the face, compelled him to force an action in order 
to reopen his communications with Long Point, from which all 
stores now had to be transported to Maiden by water. Perry, 
therefore, established his headquarters at Put-in Bay, in the Bass 
Islands, some thirty miles southeast of Maiden, whence he could 
easily watch his enemy and await the moment when Barclay 
should attempt to reach his base of supplies. 

At daylight on September 10, the lookout at the m.asthead of 
the Lawrence sighted the British fleet in the northwest, coming 
down before a fair wind. Perry' at once got under way, and 
began to beat out of the bay. The breeze, however, soon shifted 
to southeast, and there steadied, which not only enabled the 
Americans to quit the harbor, but gave them the weather position, 
an advantage which they maintained throughout the day. The 
British force consisted of six vessels — the Detroit, Barclay's flag- 
ship, carrying nineteen guns ; the Queen Charlotte, of seventeen 
guns commanded by Captain Finnis ; the Lady Prevost of thirteen 



The Battle of Lake Erie. 927 

guns; the Hunter of ten; the Little Belt carrying three; and the 
Chippezva carrying one gun — in all, sixty-three guns, and prob- 
ably about four hundred and forty men. The American squad- 
ron on the other hand numbered nine vessels — the Lazvrence, 
Perry's own brig, nearly as large as the Detroit, and carrying 
twenty guns ; the Niagara, commanded by Captain Elliot, of the 
same tonnage, and with the same armament; the Caledonia, of 
three guns ; the schooners Ariel, Scorpion, Somers, Porcupine, and 
Tigress, carrying ten guns ; and the sloop Trippe, with one gun — 
in all, fifty-four guns, with an effective crew slightly smaller 
than that of the British. In number of guns the enemy were 
superior to the Americans. But in other respects — in ships, in 
tonnage, and in weight of metal thrown in a broadside, whether 
at long range or at close quarters — Perry had a most decided 
advantage. The Americans had thirty-nine 32-pound carronades ; 
the British not a gun of that weight, and only fifteen 24-pound 
carronades. The lightest guns on the American vessels were eight 
long i2-pounders, while twenty-four of the British guns were only 
9-pound shot, or less. The American broadside at long range 
was two hundred and eighty-eight pounds of metal ; the British 
threw but one hundred and ninety-five pounds ; while at close 
range the American superiority was as nine hundred pounds 
against four hundred and sixty. 

Of this advantage Perry made full use. Leading the van in 
the Lazvrence, with the blue flag inscribed " Don't Give Up the 
Ship ! " at her masthead, and supported by two gun-boats on her 
weather bow, he bore down before the light breeze and met the 
enemy's fire shortly before noon. Ten minutes later the Ameri- 
cans began to reply, but their shots all fell short, while those of 
the British were much more destructive than had been anticipated. 
Perry, therefore, made more sail upon the Lawrence, and passed 
word by hail to the vessels astern to close up and for each vessel 
to bring her designated opponent into close action. Gradually 
the distance between the opposing lines shortened until the Ameri- 
can flagship had worked her way to within canister range, about 
two hundred and fifty yards. The range was still greater than 
desirable for carronades, but Perry had stood his opponent's 
raking fire as long as possible, and besides the Lazvrence had 
already suffered so severely in her rigging, that she was fast be- 
coming unmanageable. The battle was thus joined by the Ameri- 



928 



The Battle of Lake Erie. 



can flagship, supported by the long guns of the Scorpion and 
Ariel ahead, and the Caledonia astern. The Niagara, however, 
failed to come up, and her immediate opponent, the Queen Char- 
lotte, was therefore left free to quit her position in line, range 
ahead of the Hunter, and bring her battery to bear upon the 
Laixrence, which for some time had been closely engaged with the 




British flagship. In this position the action at the head of the line 
was fought most desperately until half past two. On each side 
the large ships were the targets for all guns, and suflfered greatly. 
The Queen Charlotte was hulled repeatedly. Both flagships were 
well-nigh disabled ; the Detroit, raked by the fire of the gun-boats 
and hulled by that of the Lazvrence, was terribly shattered, while 
the Lawrence herself was reduced to little more than a wreck. 
Not a brace, not a bowline, not a gun on her engaged side re- 



The Battle of Lake Erie. 929 

mained on the American ship ; eighty-three of her men, over 
half of her total complement, had fallen ; her hull was riddled 
and splintered by shot which passed through from side to side, 
killing the wounded in the cockpit as they lay on the surgeon's 
table. With only one gun left, she was a beaten ship, although her 
colors still floated in the breeze. But the courage and resolution 
of Perry never faltered. Finding that the Lawrence could no 
longer annoy the enemy, he himself, with the assistance of the 
purser and chaplain, gave the Detroit one more shot from the last 
effective piece, and, leaping into a small boat, was rowed to the 
Niagara, which for some reason never known, had carefully 
remained out of reach of harm with four of the gun-boats, desul- 
torily firing her two long-range guns at the enemy's vessels. To 
the Niagara, therefore. Perry transferred his flag, and he had the 
satisfaction of knowing that he had reached a fresh ship while 
the colors of the one he had left were still up. 

All sail was at once made upon the new flagship, and, with the 
schooners lagging in the rear. Perry bore down to break the 
enemy's line. The outcome of the action was now no longer in 
doubt. As the Niagara came within range, the Detroit tried to 
wear, to avoid being raked as well as to try to bring her unen- 
gaged battery into action. But in executing this manoeuver she 
fell foul of the Queen Charlotte which was ranging ahead on her 
lee quarter, and before the two could be got free Perry broke 
through. Firing his port guns into the Chippewa, Lady Prevost, 
and Little Belt, and his starboard guns into the Detroit, Queen 
Charlotte, and Hunter, he came on, delivering a murderous raking 
fire on both sides. One more attempt was made by the British 
to bring their batteries to bear, but their valor was in vain. The 
end was inevitable. With the ships lying completely unmanage- 
able, every brace shot away, and spars down or badly wounded, 
their guns disabled, and the American vessels raking them ahead 
and astern, no alternative was left but surrender. 

Thus was the campaign of Lake Erie fought and won. The 
scale and theater of its operations was small and confined indeed y 
but its military and political consequences were immense. It 
decided the military situation in the Northwest once and for all ; 
it gave the Americans the supremacy on Lake Erie ; it compelled 
the enemy to evacuate Detroit and the Michigan territory ; it shook 
the Indians' allegiance to the British cause and henceforth freed 



SEP 29 '"^'^ 

930 The Battle of Lake Erie. 

the frontier from the terror of savage massacres. " But the effect 
on the people — what it soon became the custom to call the moral 
consequences — outdid anything yet experienced. The almost vm- 
broken series of naval victories on the sea had begun to pall. The 
charm of British invincibility was broken by Hull, Decatur, Bain- 
bridge, and Burrows. Ship to ship, man to man, gun to gun, it 
had been proved over and over again that Great Britain was no 
match for America. But, till Perry met Barclay on Lake Erie, 
no fleet bearing the flag of the United States had ever encountered 
a fleet bearing the flag of England. In Perry, therefore, the 
people found a new' sort of hero, a young Nelson, and, carried 
away by his youth, by the energy with which he built and manned 
his fleet, by the courage with which he bore the brunt of the fight, 
by the dramatic episode of the open boat, and by the skill with 
which, when all seemed lost by the mismanagement of Elliott, he 
brought up the Niagara and won the day, the people went wild 
with joy and in their ecstasy made him the hero of the war. All 
over the country bells were rung, cannon fired, towns and cities 
illuminated in his honor, and swords without number voted him. 
Albany gave him the freedom of the city, a sword, and a fine 
reception. Poughkeepsie was illuminated. Philadelphia took a 
day to rejoice and a night to illuminate. New York and Balti- 
more did the same. The people of Boston, in mass-meeting 
assembled, voted a sword. The Constitution honored him 
with a salute. Both parties claimed him as their own. He became 
the toast of the hour at innumerable Democratic festivals held to 
celebrated the ' triumph of the American arms over their enemies,' 
and the chief theme of scores of naval songs, odes, verses, and 
impromptu lines. He deserved it all ; for if ever a battle was 
won by the obstinacy and courage of one man, it was the Battle 
of Lake Erie." * 

*McMaster: History of the People of the United States, Vol. 4, p. 38. 



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